Cell and tissue engineering, together with the development of new biomaterials, are fast growing fields of biomedical sciences and technologies. The final goals of the tissue engineering and biomaterials are the in vitro and in vivo regeneration and development of functionally active tissues. Recent advances in cell biology, molecular genetics and biocompatible materials represent key events in the improvement of clinical applications of the tissue engineering. From an orthopeadic perspective, tissue engineering is focused on the development of innovative materials, whose action consist in recruiting bone progenitor cells and in stimulating their “in vivo” proliferation. It is worth remembering that biomaterials should allow cell adhesion and proliferation, without inducing alterations in the cell characteristics of the original tissue. In this chapter, we present a novel human cellular model, which was generated for the in vitro study of biomaterials. The study model, derived from a human osteosarcoma cell line, allows the rapid characterization of the cellular parameters. The human osteosarcoma cell line, Saos-2, which maintains the cytological features of the osteoblast cells, was genetically modified to express constitutively the enhanced green fluorescent protein (eGFP) from the jellyfish Aequorea victoria. The engineered cell line, named Saos-eGFP, represents a suitable in vitro model for studying the biocompatibility, the cell adhesion, spread and proliferation on biomaterials developed for clinical applications.

Cell and tissue engineering, together with the development of new biomaterials, are fast growing fields of biomedical sciences and technologies. The final goals of the tissue engineering and biomaterials are the in vitro and in vivo regeneration and development of functionally active tissues. Recent advances in cell biology, molecular genetics and biocompatible materials represent key events in the improvement of clinical applications of the tissue engineering. From an orthopeadic perspective, tissue engineering is focused on the development of innovative materials, whose action consist in recruiting bone progenitor cells and in stimulating their “in vivo” proliferation. It is worth remembering that biomaterials should allow cell adhesion and proliferation, without inducing alterations in the cell characteristics of the original tissue. In this chapter, we present a novel human cellular model, which was generated for the in vitro study of biomaterials. The study model, derived from a human osteosarcoma cell line, allows the rapid characterization of the cellular parameters. The human osteosarcoma cell line, Saos-2, which maintains the cytological features of the osteoblast cells, was genetically modified to express constitutively the enhanced green fluorescent protein (eGFP) from the jellyfish Aequorea victoria. The engineered cell line, named Saos-eGFP, represents a suitable in vitro model for studying the biocompatibility, the cell adhesion, spread and proliferation on biomaterials developed for clinical applications.